Windows Phone 7

tvmercia
Posts: 601
Joined: Sat 10 Jan, 2004 03.15
Location: Low Birk Hatt

i've had the htc hd7 running wp7 for over six months ... and i hate it.

- battery life is abysmal.
- it might be pretty, but menus are unnecessarily animated, frustrating when you're in a hurry.
- couldn't copy and paste until the update.
- can't connect to wifi networks with hidden ssids (patronising, nannying by microsoft)
- app selection is tiny compared to iphone
- camera is rubbish at auto focusing

i was an iphone hater, put off by the hype. however, work have provided me with one and, using the two in tandem, the differences are plain to see.

iphone wins hands down.

having hated windows mobile on my previous work handset, giving ms a second chance with wp7, i shalln't be giving them a third chance when this handset is due for upgrade. can't come soon enough!!
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Sput
Posts: 7543
Joined: Wed 20 Aug, 2003 19.57

I would be inclined, and I might be wrong, to blame the shitty camera on HTC rather than Microsoft. My desire is rubbish at camera things. Seems a bit of a blind spot and I would have thought that Microsoft could have mandated a minimum spec to stop that, but probably didn't think it was worthwhile.
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lukey
Posts: 587
Joined: Thu 25 May, 2006 01.11
Location: London
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tvmercia wrote:i've had the htc hd7 running wp7 for over six months ... and i hate it.

- battery life is abysmal.
- it might be pretty, but menus are unnecessarily animated, frustrating when you're in a hurry.
- couldn't copy and paste until the update.
- can't connect to wifi networks with hidden ssids (patronising, nannying by microsoft)
- app selection is tiny compared to iphone
- camera is rubbish at auto focusing

i was an iphone hater, put off by the hype. however, work have provided me with one and, using the two in tandem, the differences are plain to see.

iphone wins hands down.

having hated windows mobile on my previous work handset, giving ms a second chance with wp7, i shalln't be giving them a third chance when this handset is due for upgrade. can't come soon enough!!
I also have the HD7, and struggled at first with it - mainly because it was horrendously unstable (which has only been resolved since NoDo), the touch-sensitive buttons along the bottom meant I was ending up on Bing when the corner of my thumb dared to creep in, which with a lot of apps failing to provide fast resume from a tombstoned state is pretty irritating - and the camera was a very real disappointment, coming from a history of owning SE phones with (relatively) impressive cameras, and even a semi-decent Samsung effort. While the camera is just about serviceable for quick FB snaps, it's pretty hideous in low-light, which is particularly disappointing as I had hoped the double LED flash might mitigate the usual crappy flash a little. Video is just awful - I'm not sure if the mic is actually as bad as it sounds or it's doing some aggressive noise cancelling - again its hard to identify where this is HTC or Microsoft to blame, and at 720p seems to be less than 15fps. My two year old Omnia i8910 did better.

Battery life is poor but I think it's become a bit ingrained in the smartphone culture that you can expect a daily charge if you're planning on any serious usage throughout the day.

I *think* HTC have a utility for connecting to networks with SSIDs, but as I type this I have a weird feeling I may have made that up.

Regarding WP7 generally, I'm more optimistic now than I was six months ago. That first release practically came from a cold start in a matter of months and I think its fairly impressive for what it is. Mango looks to be a credible update which even through the deep-linking live tiles and better intergration between apps alone should be a lot more compelling. What we got last year was only a product of the limited timeframe rather than a lack of vision or whatever wankiness you want to describe it as - which is important, because I think MS are still prepared to give WP a longer leash to act in a skunkworksy way, which I think is the only way they can gain any serious share over the next 3 or 4 years.
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martindtanderson
Posts: 527
Joined: Tue 23 Dec, 2003 04.03
Location: London, UK
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Mango is now available, such a huge update for Windows Phone...

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lukey
Posts: 587
Joined: Thu 25 May, 2006 01.11
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Chuffed to see that it seems they've reined in the OEMs/carriers and are achieving a smooth rollout - but to satisfy my curious dorkbone, any major (or even minor) changes since the dev build?
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martindtanderson
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Joined: Tue 23 Dec, 2003 04.03
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lukey wrote:Chuffed to see that it seems they've reined in the OEMs/carriers and are achieving a smooth rollout - but to satisfy my curious dorkbone, any major (or even minor) changes since the dev build?
I've been using the developer beta (as I am a developer) and the two changes I noticed is speed and general performance is better, and you can add your twitter followers to your contacts list, or link a twitter account to a contact, so you can tweet them from their contact page.
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nidave
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Joined: Wed 19 May, 2004 14.39
Location: Manchester

lukey wrote:Chuffed to see that it seems they've reined in the OEMs/carriers and are achieving a smooth rollout - but to satisfy my curious dorkbone, any major (or even minor) changes since the dev build?
It will take time for the developers to come out with the cool stuff the iPhone enjoys now they have access to loads more API's and better access to other features... i.e. deep linking in apps is a great idea. (you can send an item to another app, like send an address to your navigation software) - don't think any other OS allows this to be done outside of the standard apps.

The battery life seems a load better and the speed has improved noticeably.

Edit: The calendar is still a bit crap.
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Sput
Posts: 7543
Joined: Wed 20 Aug, 2003 19.57

Righty, well I've got a few months until my Desire's contract is up, and I'm reasonably sure I'm not going to bother with Android again (unless Ice cream sandwich really is that good and someone decides to make one that isn't GIGANTIC). I'm trying to be open-minded and was thinking about experimenting with a windows phone (by buying it outright, perhaps second hand).

For the purposes of this experiment I was contemplating a Mozart as it seems remarkably cheap. Is this sane? Is there a better one for my money? Also, should I steer well clear of WP7 given all we've learned in this thread?
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marksi
Posts: 1892
Joined: Wed 07 Jan, 2004 05.38
Location: Donaghadee

Is Android the problem or is it just the lack of memory on the Desire? I don't have a problem with Android, it does everything I think I need it to do, but am getting bored of babysitting the Desire to keep clearing program caches because it keeps running out of room.
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Gavin Scott
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It is indeed the time for contract renewals, and I too was contemplating a break from Android.

I momentarily thought of iPhone, but I can't find a deal strong enough to compel me. If someone can make a strong case for Windows Phone 7 I'll go and play with one in a shop.

Question - can I tether my 3G connection from a WP7 handset to my iPad?

The office firewall means I'm reliant on 3G now for all kinds of browsy stuff, and I'm paying O2 £10 a month for the SIM in my iPad. That allows for 1GB of data (although they continually "bonus" me up to 2GB - but its not guaranteed nor consistent).

I want to go with 3 as a provider and utilise their all you can eat data, and dispense with the O2 rolling contract. I know I'll be able to do this on an HTC handset (and they're offering me a Wildfire for no money down and smaller monthly than I'm currently paying) - but should WP7 be part of my search?
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marksi
Posts: 1892
Joined: Wed 07 Jan, 2004 05.38
Location: Donaghadee

My contract is up. I've left O2 and changed to GiffGaff. Runs on the O2 network but for £10 a month I can buy a "goodybag" which gives me 250 any network minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited data. You can buy the next goodybag before the current one runs out and it will activate as soon as the current one expires.
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